Wisconsin Democrats Focus Attacks On Walker During Weekend Convention

Burke, Pocan Among Speakers At State Convention Held Past Weekend

Monday, June 9, 2014, 9:30am

By Shawn Johnson

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Speaker after speaker at the Democratic State Convention over the weekend used their remarks to attack Republican Gov. Scott Walker, driving home the theme that Walker wasn't looking out for average people.

Some of the sharpest attacks came from freshman U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, who spent a few minutes talking about Republicans in the nation's capitol before he turned his attention to Walker.

"As bad as it can sometimes seem in Washington, it's still not as bad as coming home and having Scott Walker as your governor," Pocan said.

Pocan, known as a verbal bomb-thrower during his early days in the state Legislature, drew some of the biggest applause when he displayed a slideshow of a PhotoShopped Walker flying a cartoon airplane in states around the country. Pocan said he wanted to let the crowd in on a secret.

"Now, you got to be quiet about this: Scott Walker is running for president. Now, I know it probably comes as a shock to many of you. I mean seriously, all those trips around the country and you thought he was doing that to help create jobs here in Wisconsin, to help provide health care for your neighbors, to help highlight the kind-hearted and hard-working nature of our state," he said. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but it wasn't about you."

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke picked up that thread in her speech, telling delegates that Walker didn't seem to listen to the people of Wisconsin.

"Is he working for us when he calls raising the minimum wage a political gimmick? Is he working for us when he drains money from our neighborhood schools? Is he working for us when he messes with the personal health care decisions of women?" she said.

Officials with the state Republican Party issued a statement saying Burke and Democrats had wasted their convention on divisive attack lines, but Republicans threw a shot of their own. GOP officials said that when Democrats were in control, they created a mess that was fixed by Walker.

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